MTC Member Spotlight: Brian Marcaurelle
This May the MTC Blog Post Spotlights will be featuring staff and volunteers involved with a water trail- the Maine Island Trail. In this blog post, we learn from Brian Marcaurelle, who serves on the MTC Leadership Team and Stewardship Work Group. Brian spends a lot of time on both land and water-based trails. Take a moment and read along about Brian’s “why trails?”. Thank you Brian for your dedication and involvement with the MTC and for your dedication to trails in Maine!
Name: Brian Marcaurelle (he/him) Your town/region: Cumberland
Organization/Affiliation: Maine Island Trail Association
Why do you Love Maine Trails? Access to Maine’s great outdoors! Our forests and fields, rivers and lakes, mountains and coastline - these are tremendous gifts that are best explored and appreciated by trail.
What trail project(s) are most involved with? On a daily basis, strengthening and reshaping the Maine Island Trail. On the side, helping with local trail efforts in my community and establishing trails on my property at home.
Favorite trail activities? Hiking and biking, and of course island hopping by boat.
Favorite trail or trail memory in Maine? Outside of Maine? Hiking Katahdin, Borestone Mountain, and the Bold Coast are experiences that never disappoint. Outside of Maine, backpacking along the Routeburn Track in New Zealand and on Hinchinbrook Island in Australia will be forever etched in my memory.
Why are you involved with the Maine Trails Coalition? There are a wide variety of trail types and trail users in Maine, and many different organizations and individuals working on trail projects and trail issues. MTC provides an opportunity for these varied trail interests to collaborate, learn from one another, and coalesce around common interests and principles.
Best tip or encouragement for trail users or trail organization volunteers? Volunteering is a great way to experience a trail or to get to know an organization while also giving back. For instance, if you’d like to explore a remote Maine island but you don’t have a boat, you can join a MITA island cleanup or workday! It might even lead to greater things, like a job (it did for me).
If you could offer one bit of trail wisdom, what would it be? When I’m on a trail, I often think of the iconic line “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey.” So much of life is goal-oriented and destination-driven. Trails give us an opportunity to slow down and take a different approach. Sure, they may lead to special places and amazing natural features, but “the getting there” is worth savoring too.
Learn more about how you can get out on or get involved with the Maine Island Trail here. Also, follow the Maine Island Trail on Facebook and Instagram @meislandtrail
